


Bittersweet

by Anonymous6285



Series: *pride* [1]
Category: The Beatles (Band)
Genre: Angst, Coming Out, Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Love Confessions, Rejection, Secret Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-16
Updated: 2020-05-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:23:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24221260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anonymous6285/pseuds/Anonymous6285
Summary: Bittersweet:1: adj. pleasant but with elements of suffering or regret2: n. a man’s undying love for George Harrison
Relationships: George Harrison & Ringo Starr
Series: *pride* [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1967863
Comments: 12
Kudos: 24





	Bittersweet

Brian had just begun to relax when he heard a knock at the door of his hotel room. He knew that it was either very important, or it was the four Beatles playing some stupid game they made up just to mess with him. Because of that, he really didn’t want to answer the door, but if it was something seriously wrong, and he just ignored it, he would never forgive himself. 

So he stood up from his bed and padded over to the door, swinging it open to find George nearly in tears. “Can I t-talk to you?” he managed to speak out, and Brian gasped. 

“Of course! Is everything alright?” Instead of replying, the young guitarist made his way over to Brian’s bed and sat down, hiding his face in his hands. “George? You okay?” When he shook his head, Brian didn’t know what to say. Lucky for him, George spoke up. 

“I think I hurt Richie.” As tears started to press at his eyes, he pressed his fists into them so hard that he could see little stars dancing across blackness. 

As he did so, his manager sat down on the bed with him, fearing the worst, that George had seriously injured the poor drummer. He resisted the strong urge to run out of the room at that very moment to ask George what was wrong first. “What happened?”

“I don’t know.” He shrugged, his hands still on top of his eyes. “I said something about being in love with his wife the other day. I mean, it was a bloody joke.”

Brian smiled to himself. “Oh, George. I’m sure he knew that.”

“No!” He pulled his hands down and dug them into the sheets beneath him. “He’s crying. He’s been crying all night.” A scream slipped from George’s lips, and the older man wrapped an arm around him. 

“Hey, it’s alright. Do you want me to talk to him?”

George shook his head. “No. I don’t want him to know I told you.”

“That you’re in love with his wife?” Brian cocked an eyebrow. 

“God, no! I’m not! I mean… well, I meant if he knew I told you that he was crying about something so stupid. This is all so stupid…”

“Are you sure that’s what he’s so upset about? Maybe it’s something else.” The guitarist looked up at him, eyes red. “Why don’t you ask him?”

“I guess I could.” George stood up again, but a soft hand on his arm stopped him. 

“You sure you’re alright?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks, Bri. You’re amazing.”

The older man was confused on what exactly he even did to help George, but he still nodded with a smile. “Alright. Goodnight, George.”

“Night.”

-

When he got back to the room, Ringo was lying under the covers in the bed. George still heard sniffles, so he approached the bed carefully.

“Richie, are you okay?” It was the first thing he’d said to his friend that night. To his surprise, the body turned around, facing away from George. “Oh, okay.” Against his better judgement, George got into the bed.

“What are you doing?” Ringo asked, trying but failing to hide the way it cracked when he spoke.

“There’s only one bed…” When another sniffle hung in the air as George got under the blanket with the drummer, he felt suddenly uncomfortable. “Will you please just tell me what’s wrong? I mean, I feel bad. I feel like whatever this is is my fault.” Another silence. “I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong.”

George wanted to believe him, but the whole situation was still making him uneasy. “Are you sure? Richie, it’s fine if I did. If I’ve done anything to upset you--”

“It’s nothing you did, okay?!” Ringo snapped, causing George to pull back away from him. And then the drummer turned around. “Please just stop asking.”

George could feel his heart break inside of him as he laid his head down on his own pillow. He didn’t know what was wrong with his friend, but if he didn’t find out soon, he would feel horrible.

-

The next morning, a harsh knock woke both of them up. “Hey!” Brian’s yell came through it. “You two better be bloody awake! We’re leaving in five minutes!”

“We’re up,” George called back. “God, calm down…” As he sat up in the bed, looking over at Ringo, the older man was already getting out of the bed. “Christ, Rich. How in the hell are you already so awake.”

“I don’t want to be killed by our manager. That’s how.”

George watched as he ran into the bathroom and slammed the door shut. He, too, got up and stripped out of his pyjamas. But as he went to find his suit, he remembered that it was in the bathroom, where Ringo was getting dressed.

So he just sighed and sat back down on the bed, wearing nothing. And as soon as the bathroom door opened, Ringo gasped.

“Oh, my god! I didn’t know you were bloody naked! S-sorry…”

George only laughed, getting up and walking into the bathroom. “I don’t mind. It’s not like you don’t have one, too.”

“I…” But the door was shut within seconds.

After they were all in the car, Brian was finally calmed down a little bit. “You lot are insane. I don’t know how it took you so long to bloody get out of bed.”

“Well, when you were doing what we were doing last night…” John said with a smirk, winking at Paul.

“Sod off, Lennon. He was just up all night reading a book.”

John faked being insulted. “It was a damn good book, thank you very much, McCartney. This girl went home with this guy and--”

“I don’t care about your book,” Brian said bluntly. “Just shut up. George, Ringo? How’d you sleep?”

George opened up his mouth to talk, but Ringo managed to say something first. “Fine.”

The youngest man only nodded in agreement. “It was alright.”

With no further topic of conversation and with Brian in a bad mood, they all grew quiet, even John and Paul. For a while, George was rather liking the silence. Until Ringo, sitting next to him, put his hand over his face, eyes growing red.

“You alright, Richie?” they heard Brian say, and the other three only stared at him as he nodded. And as tears started to fall down his cheeks.

“What’s wrong?” Paul asked, but it sounded more like a statement. Like he knew that something was wrong.

“Nothing.” And he shook his head with a small sniffle. George’s eyes drifted away from the drummer, and when he glanced at Brian, he saw that his manager was glaring at him, worry in his eyes.

“Rich--” George started, and to his surprise, his friend just shot him down.

“Shut up! Just leave me alone!” They all quieted themselves, and the drummer lost complete control of his emotions. For a few minutes he did nothing but cry, but then he looked at Brian. “I want to go home.”

“You can’t--”

“Then I want to go back to the hotel. I’m not doing this interview.”

They all looked at each other, shocked. “We can’t go back. Look, it’s a short interview, and then we’re going to lunch, okay? Everything’ll be fine.”

Ringo nodded, but his eyes and feelings continued to betray him.

-

They managed to make it through the whole day fine, and none of them spoke to Ringo unless they had to. George, in particular, stayed away from him as much as he could. The last time he tried to see what was wrong, the older man had snapped at him, and if he caused an outburst in public, he couldn’t imagine the amount of the cameras that would face their direction.

It wasn’t until probably eleven o’clock that night that he even acknowledged the drummer’s presence at all. He’d been in the bathroom for probably two hours doing god knows what, and George was ready for bed. He knocked on the bathroom door.

“I’ve gotta brush my teeth. Could you let me in?”

“Door’s unlocked.”

George tried it, and, sure enough, it creaked right open. But when he saw where Ringo was, leaning up against the tub on the right, holding back his tears while George was in there, he felt a pain in his chest.

“God, Richie. Please tell me what’s wrong. I mean, it’s gotta be serious. I’ve really never seen you cry like this before.”

“... Sorry.”

Ringo hid his face in his knees. “What are you sorry for?” This made him raise it again.

“What?”

“There’s nothing to be sorry for, Richie. I’m worried about you, yeah?”

“Oh… okay.”

George was about to start brushing his teeth, but something told him it’d be better to talk to Ringo right now. When he wasn’t in too bad a mood. He walked over to the other side of the bathroom and sat down right next to his friend, scooting in close to him. 

“What’s up, Richie?”

Ringo shrugged. “I’m really fine—“

“Nope. You’re not fine, so don’t give me that bullshit.” Ringo got quiet. “Just tell me what’s on your mind. I won’t judge.”

“You say that now. You won’t be saying that when you hear what’s wrong, though.”

George cuddled up closer to him, putting an arm over his shoulder, but Ringo didn’t seem to want it there. He picked it up and pulled it off of him. 

“Sorry,” George said shyly. “But I promise I won’t judge you.”

“What if you do? And what if you hate me for it? I could never live with myself if I was the reason.”

George could feel his own tears start to come to him. “W-what could possibly be so bad that I’d hate you for it? I love you so much, Richie. You know that.”

“Don’t say that. Please.”

“But I do—“

“No! You don’t! You have no idea what that word means!”

George pulled away from him, offended. “You don’t think I love you? Rich, you’re my best friend. I mean, John and Paul are pretty great and all, but you’re Ringo! I love you so much—“

“Not the same way that I do!” the older man slurred out. “You’ll never understand the pain of how much you love me. Of course I know you do, Geo. But when you say it, it just tears me apart because I think I love you even more.”

George was silent as he scooted closer to Ringo again, but the drummer pushed him away, and he felt like crying. 

“No! Don’t try to come make this better, okay? I told you I’m fine. If you want to leave, just leave now and get it over with. I don’t need your pity.”

“I’m not… leaving? God, what are you talking about?” Ringo stared at him. “Richie…” he whispered. “I’m not leaving.”

“I’m so sorry.” A sob escaped the younger man, and Ringo gasped. “Georgie?”

“You really thought that this would hurt our friendship? You thought I was that shallow?” Tears started to spill out of his brown eyes, and he squeezed them shut after eye contact with his friend. “God, you did.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“Stop saying that,” George cried out. “You’re sorry, you’re sorry. I get it. But I mean, how could you be?”

“George, I’m in love with you.”

“And that’s something to be sorry for? I mean, Pattie sure never apologised.” George wiped away more tears. 

“Pattie’s your wife.”

“I know that.” His voice was so soft that he almost couldn’t hear it himself. “And you’re my best friend. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, can we talk about what’s going on?”

“Well, say something, then.”

George sniffled. “I don’t know what you want me to say… I mean, I can’t lie to you. I really don’t love you that way, Rich.”

Ringo’s nostrils flared to keep in the strong surge of emotions inside of him. “I know.” And then he was enveloped in a hug. 

George’s hot breath on his neck brought him further away from the gravity of the situation they had on their hands. “I’m sorry, Richie.”

“What, now you’re sorry? You didn’t do anything wrong, either!”

“No. I’m sorry for you. God, you’re incredible, and you don’t deserve this at all. Don’t you love Mo?”

“Yes, but I love you, too, Geo.”

“Shit,” the guitarist cursed. “God, this is just awful. Because now I feel like a horrible friend. Like I love you, too. But not in the same way, and you just don’t deserve it.”

“It’s fine, George. It’s really all fine. I already knew that. I wasn’t hoping you’d confess your love to me when I told you. I was just… hoping you’d stay.”

George started to cry again, not even trying to hide it. “Fuck, of course I’ll stay. I’ll always stay. I love you so much.”

Ringo smiled, holding on tight to George. He knew he could never let go. “I love you, too…”


End file.
